Kim Jong-un Requests Second Summit with Trump

Anchor: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has requested a second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in an apparent attempt to find a breakthrough in the deadlocked negotiations on the North’s denuclearization. U.S. media, however, reported the same day that the regime is still producing and concealing nuclear weapons.
Our Lee Bo-kyung has this story.

Report: The White House said Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump has received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un calling for a second summit and coordination for the meeting is already underway.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a news briefing that Kim requested the follow-up to the historic Singapore summit in June in a “warm, very positive letter” to Trump delivered in recent days.

[Sound bite: White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders]
“The primary purpose of the letter was to request and look to schedule another meeting with the president which we are open to and are already in the process of coordinating that.”

The spokeswoman also said Kim's letter is evidence of progress in the relationship between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea.

[Sound bite: White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders]
"The president has achieved tremendous success with his policies so far and this letter was further evidence of progress in that relationship."

Sanders refused to give details on the date and venue of the proposed summit, but when asked if the meeting could take place in Washington, she said it’s certainly something that the U.S. wants.

Some analysts had pointed to the UN General Assembly meetings in New York in two weeks as a possible venue for a Trump-Kim meeting, but the U.S. appears to be considering Washington as an option.

Under the circumstances, Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton said the administration is still waiting for Pyongyang to take significant action.

Bolton said that the possibility of another meeting between the two presidents obviously exists, but Trump can't make North Korea walk through the door he's holding open.

Amid diplomatic efforts resuming between Washington and Pyongyang, U.S. broadcaster NBC reported on Monday that North Korea has continued to produce nuclear warheads over the last few months and escalated efforts to conceal its nuclear activity despite Kim’s claims of having ended the program.

Quoting U.S. officials, NBC said that North Korea could produce five to eight new nuclear weapons this year.

It added that Trump is publicly issuing positive comments and praise for Kim, but these signs of the North’s continued nuclear activity have pushed his administration to take a more aggressive stance on the North and Trump is personally directing a high-pressure campaign against Pyongyang.
Lee Bo-kyung, KBS World Radio News.